Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus which is communicable with external devices on a network, a storage medium storing instructions for the information processing apparatus, and a communication system which includes the information processing apparatus and a server machine.
Description of the Related Art
By displaying an image based on document data in which a hyperlink has been embedded on a panel of a PC (personal computer) etc. and by clicking a location at which the hyperlink has been embedded with a mouse etc., it is possible to make an access to a linked device, and to acquire data from that linked device. However, in a case that a document based on the document data in which the hyperlink has been embedded is printed and the document is distributed, there is a possibility that a person to whom the document has been distributed is not capable of acquiring data from the linked device.
For instance, in a case that the hyperlink has been set in a URL (abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator), the URL is printed on the document. Therefore, the person to whom the document has been distributed is able to make an access to the linked device by using the URL that has been printed, and to acquire data from the linked device. Whereas, in a case that the hyperlink has been set in a symbol or an icon other than the URL, the URL is not printed on the document, and the symbol or the icon other than the URL is printed on the document. Therefore, the person to whom the document has been distributed is not able to make an access to the linked device, and cannot acquire data from the linked device.
In view of such circumstances, in information processing apparatuses described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2000-148340 and H10-171727, hyperlink information that has been set in a hyperlink is converted to a two-dimensional code such as a QR (quick response) Code® (registered trademark of DENSO WAVE), and the two-dimensional code is printed on a document. Accordingly, a person to whom the document has been distributed can acquire the hyperlink information by picking up an image of the two-dimensional code by a camera of a mobile telephone etc., and can acquire data from a linked device by making an access to the linked device.